Clunker Math

The   person who  calculated this bit of information went to high school in Pittsburgh, Pa. He reportedly is now, and has been, a  professor at The University of West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia for the last forty some years. I'll bet most people never bothered look at the clunker program in such depth.

Clunker Math

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800  gallons of gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25  mpg uses 480 gallons a year. So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. The government claims the program took 700,000 vehicles off the road, so that's 224 million gallons of fuel saved per  year. That equates to a bit over five million barrels of oil. Five million barrels is about five hours worth of U.S. consumption. More  importantly, five million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars So, our government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save  $350 million.

We spent $8.57 for  every dollar we saved.

I'm pretty sure  they'll do a great job with our health care, though.